How Peter Brock ushered in a hang gliding golden age

Competition, whether on track or in the air, is still one of life’s most satisfying endeavors. Few in the automotive world know of my truest passion, competitive flying. 

Hang gliding may have been invented by Otto Lilienthal as far back as the 1880s, but its modern, golden era began on the beaches of Playa del Rey in Southern California in the early ’70s. 

In ’72 on the west end of the LAX airport, a huge electrical power plant was being built. The resulting mound of sand that was excavated for its foundation became the inspiration for an innovative community of “hippies” to build some of California’s first Rogallo-type flex-wing hang gliders. 

My race shop, BRE, was just a few blocks inland from the beach, so it wasn’t long after the huge sand dune had been created that I went to check it out. I was surprised to find a small group of young guys attempting to fly with homebuilt gliders, based on Francis Rogallo’s wing design that they’d seen in Popular Mechanics. 

The sand dune was less than 200 feet in height, its slope coinciding perfectly with the glide ratio of these early gliders, making it almost impossible for anyone to injure themselves. 

As one breathless “pilot” dragged his glider to the top, he asked if I’d like to try “flying” it. I carefully studied his creation made with Visqueen plastic sheet, bamboo and duct tape and figured that it was worth a try. He explained the simple weight-shift control process and within minutes had me tied into his crude rope harness. I watched several other attempts to launch and quickly understood why they made it into the air or fell into the sand. 

With some enthusiastic encouragement, I ran down the slope for a few yards and eased slightly forward on the control frame … and took to the air! That moment changed my life. Even though my flight lasted but a few short seconds, I’d reached the water’s edge and experienced a sensation of real freedom. I instantly made up my mind to make a better, safer glider. 

After some careful study, I determined what would be necessary to produce a small, inexpensive kit of hardware to create improved gliders. When I showed up a few days later with my kit, the response was amazing. Everyone wanted parts, asking how much I wanted for them. 

I responded: five dollars. 

“Five dollars! What a rip-off!” they shouted. 

Until that moment, everything they had created had been free. I didn’t sell a single kit.

Instead, I went back to my shop and built my first hang glider using aluminum tubes instead of bamboo. I knew nothing about making aerodynamic improvements, so I copied the basic 90-degree-nosed Rogallos like everyone else was doing. 

When I next came to the beach, it was a revelation. I easily flew farther than any glider had ever gone! Best was the acceptance that better flight wasn’t free. I sold several kits and shared my source of alloy tubes. 

One of these young enthusiasts worked in a loft making sailboat sails and offered to make me a new wing. Sailcloth changed the sport! 

With the advent of non-distorting flexible wings, flying became safer and distance records were soon set. Everyone in the flying community began scouting for new places to fly with higher takeoffs. It wasn’t long before top flyers, in their ultra-maneuverable Rogallo hang gliders, were able to climb above the sailplanes in the narrow ridge lift on the cliffs above Torrey Pines along the seashore near San Diego. 

The sport progressed quickly as foot-launched glider design improved and new flying sites were discovered in California’s Owens Valley. Annual competitions there over the next several years had the bravest and most skilled pilots topping out at 15,000 feet and going over 200 miles! 

My company, UP (Ultralight Products), developed some of the best, both in pilot skill and technology. Our team won the Owens Valley XC Championship in six out of the seven years we competed there.

It was truly one of the most exciting and passion-driven eras of my life. I recently went to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to meet with a young group of flyers. The names and faces have changed from 50 years ago, but our passion makes us still the same.

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